San Francisco County CA Genealogy

Biography of Abner E. Callaway

The old adage that ‘”truth is stranger than fiction” finds exemplification in the annals of the northwest. The most marvelous characters of the novelist cannot exceed in courage and daring the hardy pioneers who have opened up this vast region to the advance of civilization. Traveling across the hot, arid, sandy plains, climbing the steep mountains, threading their way through dense forests of towering trees, they came to this land of the “silent, sullen people,” whose hostility made existence most uncertain, and here they have established homes, churches and schools, developed the rich agricultural and mineral resources of the country … Read more

Biography of John Hanson

John Hanson, who loyally served this country as a member of the navy, is now successfully engaged in farming and stock raising on Camas prairie, in Idaho county, where he owns four hundred and eighty acres of land. He is a native of Denmark, his birth having occurred in that land on the 9th of June 1827. At the age of fifteen he bade adieu to home and friends and went to sea, eventually sailing to New York, in 1849. While there he joined the United States Navy and served for sixteen months, at the expiration of which period he … Read more

Lee, Catherine Alexander – Obituary

A funeral for Catherine A. Lee of Pendleton, a former Portland resident, will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Grace Memorial Episcopal Church. Interment will be in Riverview Cemetery. Lee died of causes related to age Tuesday in a Pendleton care center [December 15]. She was 96. She was born April 5, 1896, in San Francisco but moved to Portland as a youngster. Her maiden name was Alexander. She was a graduate of Washington High School and married C. M. [Chester Milton] Lee on Dec. 25, 1937, in Portland. Mrs. Lee worked for the city of Portland’s Bureau of Health … Read more

Chronological Record of Police Appointments City and County of San Francisco

This free collection contains three volumes of handwritten manuscripts which depict the chronological record of police appointments for the city and county of San Francisco from Oct 1853 – Nov 1947. They are set up in a ledger format with an index at the front of each volume. The volumes, since they are handwritten, are not searchable.

Biography of Hiram Doncaster

HIRAM DONCASTER. – No one seems to operate so much in the capacity of a creator as the shipbuilder. The products of his brain and hand have a life of their own, are given a name, and have their own personality. Shipbuilding on the Sound is, moreover, an important business; and the masters of this craft are men of distinction. One of these is the man whose name appears at the head of this sketch. He was born in Nova Scotia in 1838, and first came to this coast via Panama in the year 1856, mining in Plumas county two … Read more

Biography of Henry Wax

Henry Wax, president of the board of trustees of Grangeville and one of her most enterprising business men, claims California as the state of his nativity, his birth having occurred in San Francisco, on the 4th of August, 1859. His parents were Jacob and Amelia (Elkles) Wax natives of Germany, who located in California in pioneer days. The year 1852 witnessed their arrival in the Golden state, where the father carried on merchandising in several towns up to the time of his death. He passed away in his forty-fourth year, his estimable wife having been called to the home beyond … Read more

Biography of Hon. Cornelius H. Hanford

HON. CORNELIUS H. HANFORD. – The subject of this sketch, although a young man, is one of the pioneers of Washington. He was born in the town of Winchester, Van Buren county, Iowa, on the 21st of April 1849. His father was a well-to-do farmer at that place. The gold discoveries in California soon attracted attention to the Pacific coast; and in 1853 he resolved to dispose of his Iowa property and seek a new home on Puget Sound, where his two brothers Seymour and George then were. Accordingly in the spring of that year he started with his entire … Read more

Elbert S. Todd of Los Angeles CA

Elbert S. Todd8, (Gabriel H.7, John6, John5, John4, John3, John2, Christopher1) born Feb. 9, 1845, in Rome Center, Mich., married: (1) June 11, 1867, Emma N. Shaw, who was born in 1848, in New York; (2) April 20, 1898, Emma Grubitz. Resided in China, and Napa, Cahuenga, San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles California. Children by Emma N. Shaw: 1832. Fred Foster Todd, born Sept. 12, 1868 in Kieu Kiang, China, married Oct. 23, 1895, Fannie Pruitt who was born May 10, 1875, in Crisfield, Maryland. He is now (1919) a Surgeon Dentist in Crisfield, Maryland. where they reside. Children: … Read more

Biography of William P. Boyd

WILLIAM P. BOYD. – The subject of this sketch is the senior member of the well-known dry-goods house of W.P. Boyd & Co., of Seattle. Mr. Boyd was born in Belfast, Ireland, April 2, 1849, and is of the hardy Scotch-Irish race that believe in themselves, and through their own exertions have done much towards the building up of the Pacific Northwest. Our subject, when but fifteen years of age, was apprenticed with a large dry-goods, mercantile firm in his native city, and served four years, afterwards being a salesman with the same firm. In the fall of 1869, Mr. … Read more

Mikkelsen, N. B. – Obituary

N.B. Mike Mikkelsen, 57, of Fort Bragg, Calif., died Dec. 30 in St. Elizabeth’s Hospital after a long illness. He was born in Webster, N.D., Mikkelsen was a graduate of the University of North Dakota where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. A veteran of World War II, Mr. Mikkelsen was formerly sales representative of Northwest Air Lines in San Francisco. His wife, Polly Noyes, was a widely-published travel writer and travel editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. She died last year. Mikkelsen will be buried beside his wife in Little River Cemetery in Mendocino County, … Read more

Biography of Texas Angel

Since the town of Hailey was hardly more than a collection of tents Texas Angel has been numbered among its citizens and has successfully engaged in the practice of law, winning many notable lawsuits wherein he has demonstrated the possession of legal powers of high order. A native of the Empire state, he was born in Angelica, New York, October 19, 1839, and is a representative of one of the oldest families of New England. Hardly had the Mayflower deposited its precious cargo upon the shores of America, at Plymouth Rock, when the ancestors of our subject, people of Welsh … Read more

Biography of Noyes B. Holbrook

Mr. Holbrook dates his residence in Idaho from 1862, and is therefore one of its pioneer settlers. He has witnessed almost the entire growth and development of the state, and has largely aided in its progress and advancement, neglecting no duty of citizenship and withholding his support and cooperation from no measure for the public good. He is now proprietor of the roller-process flouring mill at Juliaetta, and is an enterprising business man whose honorable methods commend him to the confidence and secure him the patronage of a large portion of the community with which he is connected. Mr. Holbrook … Read more

Flores, Jose C. – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Jose C. Flores, 85, a resident of Baker City, died Aug. 26, 2003, at his home. At his request, there will be no service. Arrangements were under the direction of Coles Funeral Home. Jose was born Dec. 8, 1917, in Manzanillo, Mexico. He came to the United States as an infant and lived in San Francisco most of his life. He served in the U.S. Army from 1941 through 1945. He engaged in battle at Papua, New Guinea and received many honors from the Army, including the Asiatic Pacific Theatre Service Medal with two Bronze Battle Stars. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of L. C. Brandt

One of the great army of commuters who believes that there is no place like San Mateo for the home of the San Francisco business man, is L. C. Brandt, manager of the San Francisco branch of the Buffalo Brewing Company of Sacramento. Mr. Brandt moved down the peninsula six years ago, and each succeeding year has strengthened the convictions which caused him to locate in San Mateo. The city has profited handsomely by having Mr. Brandt as a citizen. When he bought property in San Mateo Heights he started to safeguard the interests of that district. He became one … Read more

Biography of Henry Louis Dausman A.M., Ph.D., M.D.

Dr. Henry Louis Dausman, a physician and surgeon of St. Louis, his native city, was born January 18, 1855. His father, the late Henry Dausman, was a native of Germany but was brought by his parents to America when only two years of age, the family home being established on a farm near Evansville, Indiana. There Henry Dausman was reared, pursuing his education in nearby schools and after reaching a working age learned the tobacco business, thoroughly acquainting himself with that task. In 1850 he became associated in tobacco manufacturing in connection with John E. Liggett under the firm style … Read more

Biography of Henry M. Thatcher

Throughout the greater part of his life Judge Henry M. Thatcher has resided on the Pacific slope, and as one of the honored pioneers of this section of the country has been prominently identified with its development, progress and up-building from an early day. He was born in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, October 17, 1833, and is of German lineage. His grandfather, Samuel Thatcher, was born in Germany, and when a young man emigrated to the United States, settling in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where he married Miss Hannah Smith. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and lived to … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Abel C. Wilder

Abel C. Wilder, prominent in the free-soil movements of Kansas Territory, in the establishment of the republican party within its limits and the founding of the commonwealth, was born at Mendon, Massachusetts, March 18, 1828. With little book learning, he early became identified with business at Rochester, New York, and did much to found its public library. While still a resident of the East, the Kansas question enlisted his deep interest and sympathy, and he came to the territory at his first opportunity in March, 1857. Engaging in the land business at Leavenworth, he at once became prominent in that … Read more

Biography of Col. William Williams Chapman

COL. W.W. CHAPMAN. – It has frequently been remarked, that while many men of great fame, and a deservedly wide reputation, cannot lay their finger upon a single public act that they originated, others whose names are less known can county by the score the progeny of their brains, now alive and active in the affairs of the world. Of the latter class is Colonel Chapman of Oregon. There are few men in America, even among those esteemed great, who have originated and carried to completion a greater number of particular acts of large scope and general beneficence. Many whose … Read more

Biography of Hon. George B. Rogers

Some men achieve success almost instantaneously, some by slow accretion, others only after long and patient working and waiting. The experience of men who are willing to work persistently and intelligently and wait calmly goes to prove that success may surely be attained during an ordinary lifetime, and no man not cut off at an untimely age need work and wait in vain. These reflections have been suggested by a consideration of the career of Hon. George B. Rogers, receiver of the United States land office at Blackfoot, Idaho, who is one of the most prominent and successful citizens of … Read more

Biography of Loren Coburn

Although a resident of Pescadero, the active years of Mr. Coburn’s life have been spent in the mining regions of California and the growing cities of Oakland and San Francisco. Loren Coburn was born in Berlin, Orange County, Vermont, January 11, 1826, with New England blood, a promise of future success. When ten years of age, his home was changed to Massachusetts, where he remained until he started for California in 1851. He shipped from New York on the steamer Falcon, bound for Cuba. After passing over the Isthmus of Panama he took passage on the ship Panama, arriving in … Read more